


Samus "Gaining" a Voice: Did It Lose Link His?

by Sparky_Lurkdragon



Category: Metroid Series, Metroid: Other M, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Archived From Tumblr, Archived from lurkdragonstuff blog, Gen, Meta Essay, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 04:48:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17359268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparky_Lurkdragon/pseuds/Sparky_Lurkdragon
Summary: A short essay wondering if fan reaction to Metroid: Other M may have influenced a localization decision in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Filed under Other M for completion's sake: I don't like the game and this is reflected in the essay.





	Samus "Gaining" a Voice: Did It Lose Link His?

After thinking about the whole thing with _The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild_ ’s English localization rewriting the adventure logs to address the player instead of being Link’s own thoughts as in the Japanese original, I honestly wonder if the decision to do that stems in part from yet another misunderstanding re:what made people so angry about _Metroid: Other M_.

Stay with me.

The _Zelda_ and _Metroid_ games are in many ways sister series. They both emphasize exploring a vast world while getting steadily stronger, fighting strange and marvelous monsters, and in general being a force of hope for the world/galaxy. Obviously they’ve grown in different directions as the years have gone on, but there’s a reason so many people like both series.

It’s in those differences and failing to take them into account that I wonder. I’ve seen a lot of fans of _Other M_ dismiss criticism with the idea that detractors, especially Western detractors, didn’t like it because it “gave Samus a personality when previously she didn’t have one.” And _Breath of the Wild_ is the first game where the current Link’s thoughts are given, so, perhaps the thought is “many people won’t like it because it’s giving Link a personality where previously he didn’t have one.”

Both of those statements are utter nonsense, by the way.

One of the things _Zelda_ and _Metroid_ have in common is a traditionally silent or near-silent protagonist. Link and Samus are both largely quiet to let the player inhabit them as they play, but the thing is, neither of them have been completely silent blank-slate ciphers for a while now, and even when they _are_ silent we’ve still had plenty of insight into their thoughts via body language and facial expression.

I would say Samus has not been a completely silent protagonist since at least _Super Metroid_ and Link hasn’t been since at least _Ocarina of Time_. No, they’re not the most explicitly characterized characters out there and there’s still plenty of room to use them as ciphers just from the effects of differing gameplay styles, but you can still tell when they’re written out of character.

Which brings me to another critical difference between the two series: Samus is always one individual Samus, but there have been several Links. That’s one reason _Other M_ doesn’t work: we’re asked to believe that the Samus presented in it is the same Samus we know from the rest of the series, and, bluntly, _she isn’t_. Adam Malkovich isn’t the same character in _Other M_ as he is in _Fusion_ , either.

It is a plot point that Link and Zelda are not the same people from game to game. Yes, they’re _related_ in the sense that they’re each a particular incarnation of the same spirit, but writing, I don’t know, _Ocarina of Time_ Link the way you would _Wind Waker_ Link or _Twilight Princess_ Zelda like you would _Breath of the Wild_ Zelda would just be super weird and wouldn’t work.

 _Wild_ Link writing his thoughts down and telling us about his adventures? Sure, I’m game. Maybe none of the other Links we’ve seen so far have done that, and it would be very odd to see someone with, say, _Ocarina_ Link’s personality do so, especially in the tone _Wild_ apparently uses, but whatever, _Wild_ is his own character and if he writes more than _Ocarina_ did and has a sillier tone/outlook on life, cool.

But if you understood the backlash to _Other M_ as ‘character who was previously a blank slate cipher given explicit personality = cranky fanbase’, I could see why someone might want to change it.


End file.
